How To Revolutionise Your Supply Chain Management

Managing your logistics and supply chains effectively can transform the success of your business. Without these crucial links, the entire process can easily fall apart, leaving you with reduced profits and major problems on your hands. There are several simple and cost-effective ways to improve your supply chain management and get a better hold on your logistics. These won’t involve any arduous process overhauls, but will focus more on small changes that will shift you in the right direction.

1. Get a high-quality logistics company on board. For many businesses, it makes sense to get experts involved in the supply chain and logistics process in order to ensure that everything runs smoothly at all times. If you link up with 3pl services like Silk Contract Logistics, you’ll be able to use their network to meet your business’s supply chain needs. They can support you through transportation, imports, warehouse storage, and data access so that the logistics of your business are covered at all times. Connecting with this sort of company is probably the easiest and most effective way to transform the management of your business’s supply chain.

2. Switch to software. If you’re still using dull and time-consuming spreadsheets to manage your supply chain, there are new technological solutions that could make your life easier and your business more successful. Invest in supply chain and logistics software and implement it across your building. It may take a day or two of training for your staff to get used to the software, but it will save you plenty of time in the long-term.

3. Automate your orders. If you find yourself frequently having to order new shipments of stock after monitoring your inventory, you may be wasting time. Use software that sets an automated system in place to assess your inventory levels and automatically order stocks that are low.

4. Look at the data. This is another place where a professional logistics service can be extremely helpful. You won’t know where the faults in your supply chain system are until you have clear data available to analyse the process. If you use a logistics provider, they’ll be able to provide and assess this data for you to help streamline the process. There are also software tools available to report on purchases, inventory, and shipment data so that you can effectively monitor your business.

5. Keep communication open at all times. Mistakes in the supply chain usually occur due to a lack of effective communication between various parties. Make sure that the lines of communication are always open, fill suppliers in on your ongoing operations and plans for the future, and make sure that all of the members of the supply chain are linked and understand how the process works. Try to be flexible with your supply chain partners, and view them as colleagues in your business.

6. Build a back-up supply system. Unless your business is very small, it’s generally unwise to rely on just one supplier for your needs. Inventory management is key, and if one supplier lets you down for some reason, it’s crucial to have a back-up plan in place. Develop a larger network of suppliers and partners so that your business always has what it needs.